Pathkiller Family History & Genealogy

History

Pathkiller, (c 1720 to January 8, 1828) was a Cherokee warrior, town chief, and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. He also served as a colonel under Andrew Jackson in the Tennessee militia during the Creek War.

Warrior life
Pathkiller (with some backing by Britain) fought against the Overmountain Men and American Wataugan frontiersmen settled in the Washington District at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Afterward, he joined with Dragging Canoe and the Chickamauga Cherokee faction fighting in the Cherokee–American wars, until the conclusion of hostilities in 1794.

Pathkiller fought for Morgan's "Regiment of Cherokees" commanded by Colonel Gideon Morgan against the Red Stick Indian uprising during the Creek War (October 7, 1813—April 11, 1814), a frontier extension of the War of 1812.

Cherokee national leader
Pathkiller was the last hereditary chief of the Cherokee. A full-blooded Native American, he was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (from 1811–1828).

The de facto authority in the Cherokee Nation had shifted to Charles R. Hicks, who was the first chief of partial European descent. Pathkiller remained chief (in title only) through 1828, basically a figurehead. Pathkiller and Hicks both were mentors to John Ross, having identified the talented young mixed-blood Cherokee of Scots-Irish descent as the future leader of the Cherokee people. After the tribe formed a constitutional republic, Ross was elected principal chief in 1828.

Name Origin

KING PATH KILLER

An interesting picture of Cherokee Council sessions was given by the missionary, Ard Hoyt, on the occasion of his visit to the seat of Cherokee government in October, 1818:

"On entering, I observed the King [Path Killer] seated on a rug, at one end of the room, having his back supported by a roll of blankets. He is a venerable looking man, 73 years old; his hair nearly white. At his right hand, on one end of the same rug or mat, sat brother Hicks. The chiefs were seated in chairs, in a semicircle, each facing the king. Behind the chiefs a number of the common people were standing listening to a conversation, in which the king and chiefs were engaged."

Spellings & Pronunciations

Path Killer

Nationality & Ethnicity

Cherokee
Native American
First Nations

Famous People named Pathkiller

Chief Path Killer

Early Pathkillers

These are the earliest records we have of the Pathkiller family.